At least 10 people have died and hundreds of thousands of houses have lost power due to a severe winter storm that has swept across the United States. Moreover, on the night of 25th January (Sunday), a private aircraft carrying eight passengers crashed at a major airport in Maine amid the intense snowfall. The tragedy transpired shortly after it took off from Bangor International Airport at about 7:45 pm. The Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed to the ground and caught fire.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), “life threatening” conditions spanned from Texas to New England. As a result, schools were closed, flights were cancelled and roadways were shut down. Meteorologists stated that the violent storm was caused by the polar vortex, a ring of powerful westerly winds that forms over the Arctic every winter and contains a pool of exceptionally frigid air. President Donald Trump had authorised emergency declatrations for a minimum of twelve states by 24th January (Saturday).
Historic winter storm kills at least 10 across US.
A monster storm barreling across swathes of the United States has prompted warnings to stay off the roads, mass flight cancelations and power outageshttps://t.co/bmZzzD4Z5R pic.twitter.com/A5j0bm9XWp
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) January 26, 2026
Now, approximately half of the 50 states have declared emergencies and the US Senate has cancelled a vote that was supposed to take place on 26th January (Monday) night. Over 822,000 homes were without electricity as of the afternoon of 25th January, as per some reports. FlightAware informed that almost 11,000 flights were scrapped. According to aviation data company Cirium, it was the worst day for aircraft cancellations in the US since COVID as over 17,000 flights had been affected.
According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Federal Emergency Management Agency pre-positioned personnel, supplies as well as search and rescue teams in several states. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser pointed out, “We’re experiencing the biggest snowstorm in a decade in DC this weekend.”
Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service outlined, “The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that’s going to hinder any recovery efforts,” in a CBS interview. Frostbite could develop in a matter of minutes in the Midwest due to windchills as low as negative forty degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature in Rhinelander of Wisconsin was minus 36 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday which is the lowest in almost thirty years.
Meanwhile, authorities have reacted to hundreds of accidents in Virginia and Kentucky. Northern regions like the Dakotas and Minnesota are accustomed to such winter temperatures but extreme cold is uncommon in states like Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee. Freezing rain may also result in an inch or so of ice accumulation in those states.
Following the issuance of ice storm warnings, reports of at least one inch of ice have been made in some areas of South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana. For the first time in more than 20 years, the Greenville-Spartanburg region of South Carolina is under an ice storm warning. Heavy snowfall and hundreds of cancelled flights have also affected the neighbouring Canada. Officials reported that Ontario is expected to receive 15–30 cm of snowfall.
Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain can cause cooled rain droplets to freeze rapidly on surfaces posing a threat. The condition might persist for days as 180 million Americans which is more than half of the population could be impacted by the storm. Ice is among the storm’s greatest threats which might harm trees, bring down power lines and make roads dangerous.
